A video of Boris Johnson riding his bicycle to a corner shop in London to buy some items have excited Nigerians a lot. Dressed in a black suite, blue shirt and red tie, with winter jacket and head warmer, the former UK prime minister is seen picking a few items himself in the store and looking relaxed. At the checkout counter, Johnson chats with the excited shop keepers and checkout clerks. Outside, he takes photographs with passersby before riding away. Someone shouts, ‘’Be safe, Boris’’, and he answers, ‘’I will’’. No convoy. No police escorts or secret police. The former PM appears like every other person in the neighbourhood. The caption accompanying the video reads, ‘’He is Britain’s former prime minister. See how he lives a normal life, no millions of pounds missing; no buildings scattered all over the world or cars all over England…’’.

Earlier this year, I have also seen a video of the Dutch prime minister drive himself in his own private car to work. No convoy. No SUVs. Only the PM, driving himself. The Ghanaian lady who took the video was exclaiming that she was chatting with the PM of the country who was heard telling her, ‘’I am going to work; and you’re doing your own work’’.

Now, compare this with the lifestyles and conducts of our political leaders in office, and those who left office recently or some years ago. We have read about former governors who took away government vehicles as they left office, some as in the case of former governor of Zamfara State, as many as 57 different vehicles. In and out-of-office, our politicians continue to live in opulence, with a large retinue of policemen and security detail, all at the expense of the people. Their looted funds are stashed away in foreign banks, laundered through lucrative deals or are buried in pits in their compounds. While the ordinary citizens continue to wallow in rising poverty and are constantly being called upon to tighten their belts and make more sacrifices, public officials and even former ones continue to live in luxury and illicit wealth. Last Monday, former governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State flew into Uyo in a chartered jet to attended a state function. It costs N10 million to charter a jet just for an hour’s flight. Who footed the N20 million bill for the return flight in that chartered jet for the former the former governor?

Corruption permeates every branch of government and every cadre of officials. National Assembly members reconvened last month to discover that flat screen TV sets, computers and other office furniture used by their predecessors in offices at the National Assembly complex have been pilfered. Huge sums are being voted to replace them. What manner of people will steal TV sets from offices and how could not be one single arrest for this?

The culture of a people determines the extent of their economic wellbeing. A culture that celebrates corruption, copious consumption and promotes incompetence and ethnic bigotry over excellence can never create economic development. Nigerians are impressed to see a former prime minister of a G7 country ride his bicycle for grocery shopping himself, but the same Nigerians would celebrate a politician at home who stole billions from the treasury and is living in unexplained opulence. The same people who are admiring Boris Johnson today would deploy ethnic sentiments to defend their kinsman who is arrested for graft. You’d hear such talks like ‘’Leave him alone; he is not the only one. Is he the only one who has stolen money in this country?’’ from his kinsmen. Former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who has been accused by the EFCC of all sorts of corrupt enrichment and has been living in exile since 2015, was recently celebrated by her fellow Ijaw citizen, Ben Murray-Bruce, in social media as a dazzling beauty! I will not be surprised if other Ijaw folks take a cue from Murray-Bruce’s post and start a campaign to ‘’bring our daughter home’’.

Our political culture condones graft, ineptitude, decadence and wastes. People are no longer horrified by stories of high-volume theft, abuse of office and ineptitude. There is no longer a national outrage against decadence and incompetence in the polity, as we used to have in the 1970s. A new age of moral permissiveness is upon us. Everybody is looking for every opportunity to help himself. It is as if Nigerian citizens are in competition against each, or in some kind of stampede, to dismember the country and share its resources in a free-for-all struggle. Everywhere you turn, corruption oozes and the people applaud in a frenzy of excitement. Yet, the same people will turn around to complain of how the country has failed them; how the leaders have failed and how they would like to migrate to where they call ‘’saner climes’’. Can’t we understand the connection between these unbridled excesses and the helpless economic situation we are in?

The other day, a young man was lynched for stealing a loaf of bread in Yenogoa. He was said to be a fresh university graduated who recently left the university with an impressive first-class degree. Reports say he has been jobless since graduation and was living in very desperate situation. But the people spared no efforts in beating him to death for stealing a loaf of bread. But these same people would later in the evening troop to the homes of their political leaders who probably stole millions from the government and shout ‘’we are still loyal sir. Anything for us, sir’’. That is the way we are!

In 1992, a brilliant political strategist in the United States, James Carville, working for the Bill Clinton presidential campaign, coined the phrase, ‘’It’s the economy, stupid’’, as one of the three messages to focus on during the campaigns. His message was initially directed at the Democratic Party campaign workers, but was later adapted as the buzzword of the season for the Bill Clinton presidential campaign. The US economy was in a recession and Clinton’s campaign used the message to drive home the point that nothing else mattered to the American citizens than fixing the economy. Clinton’s pledge to fix the economy and grow jobs resonated with the voters, so much so that he went on to beat his challenger, President George H. W. Bush.

Thirty-one years later, Nigerians are confronted with rising poverty and cost of living crisis not seen in more than a generation, compounded by massive frauds and corruption that go way back. If the citizens, especially the elites, do not form a consensus and rise up against corruption, incompetence and decadence, the country will continue to go around in circles, mired by miserable economic situation. It’s the culture, stupid!

The 7th edition of the Annual Ife Summer Institute, a two-week academic engagement for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from around the world commences Monday, 24th July at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. ‘Advancing Africa Through the Academy: Innovation, Creativity, and Service’ is the theme. It is an annual programme organised by Jacob Kehinde Olupona, a Nigerian Professor at Harvard University who was recently inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  

In the 2023 edition, there will be approximately seventy Professors from all over the world participating as speakers and facilitators. This year, past fellows of the Institute and Professors administered the selection process for the applications and planned the programme, with the internal program committee taking the lead.  
 
Over 230 male and female doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from STEM and Non-STEM fields from countries such as Cameroon, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sénégal, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe applied to the Summer Institute in 2023. Only 73 were invited as in-person participants, including individuals with disabilities and nursing mothers, while 156 were invited as virtual participants.  
 
Based on the preliminary findings of the Graduate Employability research conducted by past fellows of the Institute in collaboration with the Michael and Henrietta Olupona Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation, this year’s edition will focus on how the creativity and innovation of the academy can promote African progress. The idea is to inspire participants to promote African development through research and to use African knowledge systems to chart a path to developing a sustainable master plan for the continent’s present and future. Consequently, the 2023 edition will be workshop-based, with conversations centred on creativity, innovation, and service through academic engagement on a variety of skills development-related topics.  

The 2023 Summer Institute commenced with a virtual Pre-Summer Institute titled ‘life cycle of empirical research,’ which was open to all early scholars, including the Institute’s intended fellows for 2023. The Pre-Summer Institute was organised by the Institute Secretariat with fellows of the Institute who participated in research on Graduate Employment in Africa sponsored by the Mastercard Foundation.  
 
The Pre-Summer Institute serves as a platform for training fellows and honing early career skills in the global community. It is also a platform for identifying talents within the Institute who could take over the leadership of several Institute-developed programmes. It is the belief of the Institute that its over 400 fellows should be continuously engaged in the program work of the Institute.  
 
The pre-summer institute’s objectives are to explain their research processes, including the tools used for research analysis, to help fellows, particularly those involved in the five-country research conducted by the Institute for Advanced studies, understand research beyond the classroom, and to develop project planning and management skills.  

Kamari Maxine Clarke, a distinguished Canadian professor at the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto, will deliver the keynote address on ‘Advancing Academia in Africa as an Otherwise Project: Foundations, Methods, and Transmission as a 21st Century Challenge,’ while Olupona will deliver the Convener’s address. Professor Simeon Bamire, Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, is the chief host.  

This year’s session will feature a variety of workshops, discussion panels, and host two special lectures: the Annual Babatunde Ogunnaike’s STEM Lecture to be delivered by Matthew Adigun, a Senior Professor of Computer Science from the University of Zululand, South Africa, and the IIAS-MCF Inaugural Entrepreneurship and Employability Lecture by Professor Joseph Eyo. Several professors from universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, and many African countries are also participating in this year’s programme.

[Thisday]

Ask not what your country can do for you:
Ask what you can do for your country.
- J.F. Kennedy

Peterside Ottong should have titled his 1989 hit track “Where are the Patriots?” and not “Where are the Prophets?”. I can understand him because, in a country where many people think it is prophets that provide political and economic solutions and directions, they should be more highly sought after than patriots who make sacrifices to do great things and they remain poor and unappreciated. Ask about Nigerian heroes of the past in the arts, sports and honest public service and see whether Nigerians of today don’t consider them to be stupid?

Today, in Nigeria, it will amount to anathema for anyone to ask any of us the above-quoted question by JFK lest one risks being beaten by an angry mob that is currently burdened by economic hardship and a bleak future hovering around by sweeping policies of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency.

I once served on a Federal Government Committee, where I was required to embark on foreign trips in the hope of reimbursements. Five years after I made two such trips, the government officials superintending the committee are acting as if it never happened, whereas they collected all they can get from the coffers of the government for themselves in the name of that committee while they expect me to sacrifice the thousands of dollars of my savings that I used to serve Nigeria. It is funny because there was a budget for the work of the Committee, and the result was done and submitted to the United Nations, but to pay or reimburse me and other persons who are not staff of either the Federal Ministry of Justice or Foreign Affairs Ministry, the matter is in abeyance and 5 years gone as we are left to figure out our fate. It is as if we are being punished for daring to work for the country and promote its good name to the world. What do they now want me to do? Go to court against my country to force its officials to pay me for what the work I did to make it great? Which court? Really funny!

In the first place, who among us can ask what we can do for our country when they, themselves, are not prepared to do anything for the country? Is it the politician or the preacher who claims to work for Jesus? What about the Imam? Is it the almighty public servant who hides behind the politician to do the real damage? They are all about self-service and nothing for building the country. They probably don’t want to build the people at all.

According to Fela Anikulapo Kuti (a good man in history), in his "Suffering and Smiling" classic, he refrains:
Archbishop na miliki,
Pope na enjoyment,
Imam na gbalado (bliss).

Yet the people following the above-listed prelates are "suffering and smiling", with 49 sufferers sitting and 99 others standing all in one commuter bus. And to think that it is the same thing that happens every day to them, but they are consoled to keep on because of their faith and religion. How much of an opiate can it be? So neither religious leaders nor public servants, especially civil servants and politicians, can dare ask Nigerians to make any "damn" sacrifice or do great things to make Nigeria better.

According to Fred KC Price, an American preacher, some people's prayers to God always go like this:
Gimme gimme gimme!!!
My name is Jimmie
So I'll take all you gimme.
So gimmie, gimmie, gimmie

If all a Country does, all the time, is to ask to be given aid- just give us! It simply means that the country is a taker. But life is supposed to be give and take, as they say. Do we think that other countries don’t have needs that’s why they are always giving aid to us? In Nigeria, the predominant culture and mentality, especially among public servants, is to take. Just take! Even when such public servants are in a position with a responsibility to give service, they turn it around to a position for taking and the taking for their own pockets. So in Nigeria, taking is the culture of service. I shudder each time Nigerian officials clamour and beg development partners for money as if they love the Nigerian people so much and really want to alleviate their suffering, yet much of what those officials are only interested in is just to cash in and get their own share of the aid money. Dead aid! The same applies to many civil society actors and players. Where are the Patriots?

There is no doubt that for our country to be better, everyone must be prepared to give more than they take. In fact, what a person has should be seen as a measure or reflection of how much that person has given. Therefore it should be presumed that a Nigerian who has become a billionaire has earned his money by giving so much to others in terms of goods and services. Shouldn’t that be true?

Yet there are pretty several billionaires or even millionaires in Nigeria today whose only basis for the money they have is by taking it from the public coffers or swindling others, or gaming the system. They make money without producing anything. They take the money that is meant for the public good and convert it to personal use. They literally steal resources. Therefore they are rich only by taking and not having given anything at all, whether commensurate to the money they have or not.

A country whose unwritten ethos is to take and take alone will soon implode from the fierce competition by its citizens to take and not to give to it and, in so doing, take the country out of existence.

That is why politicians make politics a career and a full-time job of what ought to be part-time public service (sacrifice) to the extent that Nigeria now takes external loans to pay their salaries, buy them new cars, give them houses and furnish the same. Shame! Can we then ever contemplate making careers in public service, apart from the military, to be non-profit and non-salaried? So that only those who have something to offer as public service are actually required to spend their time to build up the country without expectation of any reward? Do we now agree that being in politics or government is just to see what we can get for ourselves? So it is just for chop chop

Doctors whose thrust of knowledge should drive them to save human life often go on strike to increase their salaries. The same applies to nurses, teachers, lecturers etc. It is simply about the money! "What's in it for me?" The so-called service is just a means to an end. More money! Who cares about building a country? And we think we would have a country? Jokers!

It was a matter of time, maybe just in a space of six years, that a country which today would have been more affluent, better and had a standard of living higher even higher than China commenced its decline by its people who chose to milk it dry, never giving its people but always taking and now it is poor, begging for loans from the likes of that same China.

Corrupt and money-grabbing public servants did not build the countries many Nigerians are migrating to in droves today as we have in Nigeria. Their public servants made sacrifices. They gave more than their country gave them, and today, their children are living off the enormous sacrifices they made yesterday and today, Africans are dying to get a chance to step on their shores. Are we really cursed? If not, Where are the Patriots?

Shortly after JFK asked his fellow citizens what they could do for America, NASA beat the Soviets by landing a man on the moon, winning the space race to become the global military power that it is today.

In Nigeria, people take up responsibilities not with a sense of how to use them to serve others but to subvert such and make money therefrom. And those who sacrifice are considered to be fools by the majority who play the game. It is a tragic trend of anomie presently in Nigerian public service. Unless we redefine patriotism and focus on it as a critical factor in national development, Nigeria as a country and people will soon lose the willingness to become anything significant among the comity of nations of this world.

Meanwhile, I am not starting another doomsday reflection with this writing. I advise that you go ahead and enjoy whatever you have and be thankful. For me, I just listened to the memorable music of Abba, Boney M and Fabomo, the Bini musical maestro. You can try a combination of amala and ewedu or a new sex style with your partner. Sex turns out to be the most secretive yet so widely engaged exercise by Many Nigerians since it is good for the body. And who knows? A new pregnancy or a renewed love in the relationship will ensue. But you don't have to use any of those aphrodisiacs they lie to you about every day on social media. That's unpatriotic of them to do. The bottom line is that don't get too serious with this life. You didn't bring yourself here, yet somehow you think it is your suffering or smartness that is sustaining you and keeping you alive.

Let’s stop philosophising sometimes but suffice it to say that you just be your best self, be responsible for the things life brings your way and remember that you indeed have a command to enjoy this life with an attitude of gratitude no matter the present troubles of fuel hike, the rising cost of living and high rate of unemployment.

Frank Tietie
Lawyer and Social commentator, writes from Abuja as part of contributions from his coming book, Random Thoughts- Frank Expressions on Life @ 50

The story that is on every lip and also trending widely is that “life is hard.” It is indeed true. The times are tough and Nigerians are no longer smiling due to unbearable economic hardships. Who will protect the vulnerable and long-suffering masses who are struggling daily to eke out a living? Who will cover their “nakedness”?

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu told us that becoming the president of Nigeria was his life-time ambition. I don’t see anything wrong with that statement of purpose but the challenges of the moment will test his leadership skills. I have written in previous articles that he has the capacity, courage and experience to lead the country.

Now is the time to walk the talk. However, I agree with commentators who say that it is still too early to criticise the Tinubu administration that is less than 60 days old.

But Mr. President needs to act quickly in order not to lose his goodwill with Nigerians. What are the issues again? The rising cost of petrol and expensive foreign exchange rates have created a new “economic bubble” that we are not used to.

Once the pump price of petrol goes up, there is always a multiplier-effect on the prices of other goods and services. School fees, transport fares, cost of foods and medicines, house rents and electricity tariffs, etc have all gone through the roof.

It is public knowledge that efforts are being made to re-set the economy but it will take some time for the benefits to kick in. Critics argue that the “bitter pill” being forced down the throats of Nigerians ought to have been “sugar-coated” to minimise the impact of the dire economic situation that has enveloped the nation.

Palliatives that are now being discussed, according to the critics, should have been in place before the petrol subsidy was removed. I think that is a fair point, but Nigerians are suspicious of palliatives in its form, scope and implementation – in much the same way they believed fuel subsidy was a huge fraud – or “organised crime” as Peter Obi put it – that was beneficial to the rich and exploitative to the poor.

Prof Farooq Kperogi, one of my favourite columnists writing from his base in the US, criticised, the removal of “subsidies” which he described as “anti-people policy”. In America where Kperogi lives, he argued that subsidies on petrol and agriculture are retained and sustained, otherwise they could become highly toxic political issues.

I am sure Kperogi knows that subsidies in Nigeria are stolen and the thieves get away with their loot but it is not so in America where every cent is accounted for. That is the huge difference. However, I agree with him that subsidy is not a bad thing but it is the mismanagement that is bad. 

The mere fact that people have not poured out in the streets protesting the removal of subsidies – in spite of the economic pains – does not mean we have swallowed the “religious dogma” envagelised by the World Bank and IMF.

To the best of my knowledge, no “ideologue” has been garlanded with medals since the removal of petrol subsidy and unification of the exchange rates (I&E window and parallel market rates) neither is Nigeria a lackey of the World Bank and IMF.

Prof Kperogi, whether we call it “neo-liberal economics” or the “reign of market forces,” Nigeria is broke (from many years of non-stop egregious looting of the treasury) and there are no easy answers to the deep-rooted economic problems that have festered over several seasons.

The situation today is dire and different from what led to the SAP riots of the 1980s. Nigeria is poorer today than 30 years ago because our commonwealth has been stolen by the “elites” during that period at the expense of the poor and there are usually no consequences.

Every now and then, we receive “Abacha loot” from the US. The money that the late General Sani Abaca “saved” for us must have been in billions of dollars! You will agree with me that he was not the only one who looted our treasury, but we are yet to receive similar repatriation of stolen funds by others from Europe and America because they are still alive.

I agree with you that our poor people have been pauperised severely by the thieving mob, parasites, bootlickers and rent seekers of Nigeria. It explains why you support the need for subsidies but when there is no money in the treasury to pay for subsidies, what do we do? Ask NNPC Limited CEO, Mele Kyari, and he would tell you that the federal government is owing the corporation over N2.8 trillion.

Gong by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), petrol subsidy had become illegal after February18, 2022. All the appropriations made by the Buhari administration in the 2022 and 2023 budgets were not backed by funds which explains why NNPC is being owed.

Nigeria is not a poor country but the poor are getting poorer because they have been subsidising the rich. What does it even mean nowadays when we say Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa when people are dying of hunger?

Different cycles of leaders have failed us since the days Nigeria borrowed money to IMF. You described these leaders as “unashamed sadists” because they “derive contentment from seeing others writhe in pain.”

I am equally as concerned as you in this matter because Nigeria’s revenues since 1960 does not match our growth and development. Ideally, our per capita income should have been higher that of China and Singapore by now, just to cite two examples. Each time we take two steps forward, we take 10 steps backward.

Even Dubai with eye-popping skyscrapers which our looters who hide under the demonising shadow of “elite conspiracy” travel to is a city that grew out of a desert in less than 30 years! Public officers and civil servants who own prime properties in UAE, especially Dubai, know themselves.

Can you really blame the followers whom you described as “unthinking, self-immolating masochists” because they “obtain joy from the suffering inflicted on them by their leaders” who come and go through revolving doors of shame that recycle them?

Is it possible to obtain joy from suffering that is the result of years of neglect caused by lack of visionary and purposeful leadership? In a country with over 130 million multi-dimensionally poor people, these “followers” have always resorted to self-help to survive because they believe that they are “on their own” – help does not come from those who preside over their affairs at the local council level or subnational government or the federal government.

They are easily recruited by politicians and thereafter sing their praises and pay obeisance to them. The poverty cycle continues and the net is expanded to admit more poor people yearly.

How much did Nigeria spend on petroleum subsidy payments until it was removed or is it a no-go area? If that probe is ever commissioned, the findings will perhaps be the biggest revelation yet on how the “organised crime” was perpetrated.

In order to break the poverty cycle, President Bola Tinubu has promised Nigerians that he would renew their hopes to achieve a new and better life. In the process, good and bad decisions would be made. For example, the N8,000 cash “subsidy” targeted at 12 million “poor and vulnerable” Nigerians was withdrawn because it was a rushed “quick-fix” that would have been counter-productive.

The long-term gains that would come after the short-term pains is the “hope” that Nigerians really need, but the optics from Abuja must be right. What do I mean? 1.) the Tinubu administration must be sincere in all its policy choices and implementation; 2.) this sincerity will breed trust that is badly needed at this time; 3.) display of transparency and accountability in government spending and block all the financial leakages; 4.) the poor can no longer subsidise the rich, and  5.) fairness, equity and social justice must be the abiding principle of the administration.

President Tinubu needs these “five pillars” to succeed and finish well. However, in my own reckoning, the president did not need more than 30 days to announce his list of ministers with their respective portfolios attached.

But I have come to know that things are not usually what they seem, and Nigeria is always a hard nut to crack. I do not envy any president who sits in Aso Villa; it is always the case of the more you look, the less you see.

I suspect that the “vested interests”’ and “middlemen” who are professional lobbyists have been at work tinkering with the ministerial list and it would appear they successfully boxed President Tinubu into a tight corner.

Even if that is what happened, I am still willing to give Mr. President the benefit of the doubt, and I am confident his presidency will thrive.

What is important is that we cannot give up on Nigeria, no matter the challenges that we face. In order to keep hope alive, we must work together to solve our problems. The signs are there that the economy will bounce back.

Braimah is a global public relations and marketing strategist. He is also the publisher/editor-in-chief of Naija Times (https://ntm.ng) and Lagos Post (https://lagospost.ng), and can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

What we refer to as palliative to cushion the effects of harsh economic conditions in Nigeria, could be coterminous to social security and welfare in other climes. The government must come up with a more seamless, efficient and effective deployment of social succors to the unemployed and citizens that are mostly affected by our sudden resolve as a people to finally come to terms that we have to correct and pay for our past profligacy.

This, the government must depart from the usual practice of just throwing money to the people and come up with more creative initiatives that would honestly address the suffering of the people in a most honorable and transparent way. Not like the discredited initiatives of the past that were dogged by allegations of diversion of funds and corruption

Whilst the government has taken the right decisions that have so far defined the early days of Tinubunomics- market-driven economic policies and life changing reforms, huge sacrifices have to be made by all Nigerians, irrespective of social status or office. We cannot have a different set of rules for the long-suffering Nigerians and the parasitic elect, and the ruling class. If we are all called to make sacrifices under the prevailing high cost of living and stagflation, then it must cut across boards.

A situation where some politicians and government officials continue to live large and carry on as if nothing has changed in Nigeria, whilst calling on the poor to tighten their belts, is not only outrageous but, inhumane and dangerous for the peace and progress of the country. To get the Nigerian economy up and going again in the right trajectory would demand that we all, (not some) brace up to the reality of a bankrupt and economically comatose country, currently in intensive care unit (ICU), that needs all the medication for revival and resuscitation.
To achieve this, requires extreme life style changes, monetary and fiscal discipline, both at the national and sub national levels.

On the palliatives: the distribution and administration should by decentralized to the 31 states and down to the 774 Local Government Areas. In doing this, the central government should lay down the modalities and set out minimum standards and criteria for operationalizing the initiative, along, Short, Medium to Long Term hardship amelioration plan.

Nigeria public and private sector leadership, must lead by example, so that the citizens would follow in the examples already set by their leaders.
Drastically reduce the size, and cost of both the state and federal governments.

On the short term: the FGN and the state governments, apart from reducing the size of government, must come clean with tax payers to reveal the much secretive total emolument of members of the State and National Assemblies, in line with the Freedom of information Act.

And to address the impact of the astronomical high cost of petrol and other fuels on the economy, and General cost of living, governments should resuscitate their states buses, boats and other transportation systems for mass transit with the benefit of economies of scale on transport cost

Then on the medium to long term, in order to resuscitate Nigeria's challenging economic situation and address the negative impacts of corruption, crude oil theft, insufficient foreign currency, lack of investment in infrastructure, and low foreign direct investments, the Tinubu government should be, if not already considering taking the following steps:

1. Tackle corruption: Implement strong anti-corruption measures, including the establishment of an independent anti-corruption agency, strict enforcement of existing laws, and prosecution of corrupt officials. This will help restore confidence in the government and attract foreign investments.

2. Diversify the economy: Reduce dependence on oil by promoting and supporting other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and technology. This will create employment opportunities, increase revenue streams, and reduce the vulnerability to oil price fluctuations.

3. Improve infrastructure: Increase investment in infrastructure development, including roads, railways, ports, and power supply. This will enhance connectivity, reduce transportation costs, and attract both local and foreign investments.

4. Encourage foreign direct investment (FDI): Create a conducive business environment by simplifying bureaucratic processes, reducing red tape, and providing incentives for foreign investors. This can be done through tax breaks, investment guarantees, and streamlined regulations.

5. Enhance security: Address the issue of crude oil theft by improving security measures, increasing surveillance, and cracking down on illegal oil bunkering activities. This will protect Nigeria's oil resources and increase revenue for the government.

6. Promote education and skill development: Invest in education and vocational training to develop a skilled workforce that can contribute to economic growth and attract foreign investments. This will also help reduce unemployment and poverty rates.

7. Strengthen institutions: Reform and strengthen key institutions such as the judiciary, police, and regulatory bodies to ensure transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. This will create a level playing field for businesses and investors.

8. Foster regional and international partnerships: Engage in regional and international collaborations to attract investments, access new markets, and benefit from technical expertise. This can be done through trade agreements, partnerships with multinational organizations, and participation in regional economic integration initiatives.

9. Promote entrepreneurship and innovation: Create an enabling environment for startups and small businesses by providing access to finance, mentorship programs, and business development support. This will stimulate economic growth, job creation, and innovation.

10. Improve social welfare: Implement social welfare programs to alleviate poverty, improve healthcare, and provide basic amenities to the population. This will enhance the standard of living and create a more inclusive economy.

It is important to note that these steps require a long-term commitment and sustained efforts from the government, as well as collaboration with various stakeholders including the private sector, civil society, and international partners.

Sonny Iroche is a 2022-2023 Senior Academic Fellow at the African Studies Centre of the University of Oxford. UK
Twitter: @IrocheSonny

The other day President Bola Tinubu announced that Nigerians are going through the equivalent of childbirth pains, but his administration is determined to ameliorate the pains, provide succor and make life better for all. During his Presidential campaigns, he told Nigerians – emi lo kan, that is in Yoruba -“it is my turn”. He also told us “e lo fokan bale”, that is don’t worry, I would be there for you as he explained that phrase. He, practically, spiritually wished himself into power and has since his assumption of office with all the baggage about unresolved court matters, confronted, through proxies, big challenges from the People’s Democratic Party and the Labour Party (LP).

What we see is that the President has continued to play “Rose Garden politics”, grab the power, hold it, and be seen to be taking charge and be seen also to be doing so, even as the opposition continues to raise questions of legitimacy. It is the courts that would determine that, eventually, but more than any other time in Nigerian history, the judex is in the eyes of the storm, exposed to the most excruciating scrutiny. Indeed, the judiciary in spite of itself has been dragged right to the bottom of the arena, in what when reviewed would come across, as one of the most difficult moments in the history and trajectory of the Nigerian judiciary. Our Lordships are in a difficult place. They carry a burden to do justice, and they also have to be seen to be doing so. They are faced with a political arena where expectations about risks and outcomes are the subjects of confrontation. The judex are expected to be above board at all times and to dispense justice without minding whose ox is gored. The more liberal characters in this conversation claim that they are looking for justice, and that justice is the “be-all-and end-all” of the judicial process. But. really, what is justice? Pontius Pilate sked “what is truth? And I wager a bet that the present imbroglio over the 2023 Presidential elections would not be resolved on the basis of questions of legitimacy, but law, public policy and public interest. I stand to be corrected if the pendulum swings otherwise.

This piece however is not necessarily about Tinubunomics, stricto senso, as the title indicates. It is about what I consider the satirical sides of the same phenomenon. Abroad, out there are the details that Nigeria’s inflation rate is now 22.79(%. Fitch, an international rating agency tells us that we should in fact be looking at 25.1% in due course, and that real GDP growth is likely to slow down to 2.7% in the face of high living costs. Debt service to revenue ratio is about 97%, so high that members of the Afenifere, a socio-cultural group, have also now become emergency economists- much better than stoking the fires of ethnic difference- and are now offering economic counsel about how to eliminate debt and increase productivity, growth and values. Meanwhile, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has just met – the first MPC since President Bola Tinubu assumed office, the first to be presided over by Mr. Folashodun Shonubi as Acting Central Bank Governor. Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) stands at 18.5%, and this is the first MPC meeting in a long while without the embattled, suspended Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele.

Foreign Exchange Rate is as high as N868 to the dollar in the parallel market. Jobs and productivity are negatively impacted. Money supply is at an all-time high at over N9 trillion, pressuring the FX market. What should be our expectations then, today as the MPC concludes its meeting? What is the balance of risks? Nigeria’s MPC faces a dilemma like never before now: to tighten, ease or retain? Whichever way the MPC decides today, the signs look ominous. Traditional orthodox economics has not worked here for as long as we can remember because the fundamentals of this economy are askew, the necessary alignments between fiscal and monetary policies are not in place, productivity is low, growth is abysmal. Let us leave the economic jargons to the economists. If you have two or three of them in this space, they will express different opinions, quoting dead theories lacking connection with contemporary Nigerian realities and claiming, each one of them, to be right. You are better off avoiding their voodoo and mischief. Nigerian economists are only good when they gather to pick up appointments at the Policy Advisory Committees that the Federal and State Governments often aet up or when they hold their annual peppersoup-ing and jollof-ing conferences where they write reports that are at best photocopies of statements from the IMF, the World Bank, and the rating agencies. Many of them would soon show up as government appointees at both Federal and State levels, to collect government patronage and shake heads like experts. I doubt how much of an economist anybody can be in this environment, mouthing dead theories that don’t work here! Even Afenifere, a socio-cultural group is trying to fill the void! In some states, governments have declared shorter working days as if that is the solution. The economist and their clients have failed this country.

It is therefore about time that we brought this thing out of their textbooks and face hard reality to console ourselves as the affected people. There seems to be an emergency consensus that Tinubunomics, or “Jagabanomy” as it is otherwise known, is not working, 60 days in the making and implementation. We have been told “e lo fokan ba le”- our hearts are already palpitating. Mr Bayo Onanuga and Senator Dayo Adeyeye have both appealed to us to be patient, and that after these initial pains, there would be “everlasting joy”. Which everlasting joy, please, Senator Adeyeye? Our grandchildren are destined to pay back all the money that the APC government has borrowed with all the accrued interests? Nigeria is at a point right now that if it were possible, the dead would rise and carry placards in protest! The living are docile and is that because there seems to be some silver lining to this “childbirth pain”, to borrow President Tinubu’s words, that we are all going through? Tell us.

With due respect, I take my narratives from the streets. Yes, the country is hard, people are in pains, but has anyone noticed, especially in Lagos that thanks to Tinubu, people are now likely to become the most fit population in the world. Ordinarily, Nigerians do not like to walk about. They prefer the comfort of commuting up and down, and if possible, in air-conditioned buses and cars. This is beginning to change. What I have seen in Lagos is that more and more people are beginning to trek to work or wherever they want to go. Very early morning or at any other time of the day, it is normal to see people on their feet taking the entire stretch of the bridge, or the street, making small conversation by the side and heading towards a destination that is known to them. Thus, with the removal of fuel subsidy, Bola Tinubu has turned Nigeria into one large, fitness gym! Nigeria is the trek-a-thon country that may soon enter the Guinness Book of Records. Nigerians are beating the road with their feet more than the people in South Sudan, Syria, or Afghanistan due to the cost of fuel and public transportation. In the UK, the government is considering adding a few seconds to the green man at the traffic lights to give porky Brits some time to cross the road, because most of the population is obsess and slow. In Nigeria, the people are busy trekking. In due course, Nigeria would be left with persons looking like broom sticks, and no one should be surprised if Nigerian economists tell us that such a development would be a plus for public health.

Tinubunomics has also made us very attentive. I never used to check the fuel gauge in the car. But I do now. In fact, I don’t only check the gauge, I step out of the car to monitor the gauge at the fuel station and I note down the number of litres pumped into the car. This is no longer the time in Nigeria to act as a big man at fuel stations, sitting down there like a dumb fellow checking the phone while the fuel is being sold. Many of us are now fuel station policemen. It is not safe to trust the driver. It is not safe either to trust the fuel station attendant. Often, I have been tempted to take the fuel pump and serve myself. There is a way those attendants handle the pump. It looks like they have a method of reducing your purchase. Whatever happens, once I get back into the car, I ask questions about the fuel gauge. Is it full? Is it by the middle or is it around a quarter? This is something I never bothered to double-check in the past. But having now to fill a car that ordinarily takes N16, 500 worth of fuel with over N50, 000, I guess one may be excused for becoming a fuel gauge police. President Tinubu’s fuel subsidy removal has tuned all of us into vigilantes. The only fear is that the number of persons with hypertension may be increasing without our knowing it. By the way, many car owners have abandoned their vehicles. They say driving a car is no longer a status symbol in this country. It is better to join the masses in the national trek-a-thon especially if you live around Ikeja! In Lagos, many wives and husbands who work on the island no longer go home. They stay back in the part of the city where God has put them. Tinubu has effectively separated families to teach that romantic lesson that distance makes the heart fonder. People are learning to stay where they earn their daily bread, without going up and down. We, the people are learning how to save costs.

Many husbands who are able to still go up and down have also learnt to redraw the map of their movements. What I have observed in this our Lagos is that husbands now go home early. What I know in this Lagos is that it is possible, and that has been the pattern over the years, for a husband to leave his office and go around town like a piece of smallpox affliction for hours: he stops somewhere to take isi-ewu, he goes off to an “Igbinedion joint” (If you know, you know), then he stops by at a tarmac somewhere to take a “point and kill delicacy.” Some other days, he mixes that up with a stop-over at Calabar Kitchen or any other favourite restaurant/tarmac of his choice. He burns petrol driving from one point to the other meeting up with friends, before he finally makes his way home in the evening either to hit the sack or slap, hit, punch his questioning wife or snarl at the children! Omo, that lifestyle is changing oh. Husbands now go home. They can’t afford the high cost of fuel. Tinubu may have reduced fuel subsidy but he has also introduced by stealth a national family stabilization and planning programme. Many housewives are silently praising him. Their yeye husbands are adjusting to the new economic reality and learning to come home when they should. It looks like practical economics. While the National Economic Council is talking about the possibility of increasing the national minimum wage, by the way, employers of labour in the private sector have been busy playing deaf and dumb. Have you heard any private sector employer trying to increase staff salary? They are all playing deaf and dumb, making the dire situation in which Nigerians have found themselves look like a government problem. Many husbands are now under strict control.

Major losers in the equation would include Tinubu’s allies: the National Prostitutes Association of Nigeria. In the course of the campaigns in 2022, their National Executive issued a public statement saying that they were solidly behind Tinubu, and they were standing on “his mandate”. They even promised to offer discounted services if Tinubu won. Have they? It is now appropriate to ask the Oloshos of Nigeria: How market oh? The simple answer is this: market is bad. Many years ago, as a romance journalist, I used to write a weekly column on prostitutes and brothels. I am not telling that story here, certainly not today. But what I know for a fact is that customer traffic is the oxygen of a prostitute’s life, and as a patron, you must know the best time to get a good bargain. Tinubu has ruined the market for our Nigerian and ECOWAS sisters! People are adjusting their personal budgets and the olosho has been yanked off. Side-chicks are also groaning! I am just waiting for this category of allies to write the President to remind him that they also supported him during his campaigns and that it would be unkind to deny them their own already assured palliatives that do not require National Assembly approval. They may even propose their own economic blueprint.

Please note further that with one policy move, the Jagaban has also solved the problem of traffic hold ups in Lagos and the expressways. The other day, I travelled out of Lagos, something I try to avoid if I can, because the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is a prolonged nightmare for motorists. I was advised that the roads are freer these days and so I ventured out. To my utter shock, traffic moved, not just on the Expressway but also inside the city. By removing fuel subsidy, Tinubu has taken the additional title of Chief Traffic Controller of Nigeria. He has put an end to traffic congestion on many roads. On my way back to Lagos, the road was also free. Most of the problematic people who go about causing problems on the roads had gone home to their wives or concubines. Half of them are more or less stone-drunk anyway. Tinubu-mycin has put them where they should be.

I am aware nonetheless, to wrap it all up, that what I describe as the positive sides of Tinubunomics, or Jagbanomy may be dismissed as a threat to growth and productivity. But let’s look at it this way: since economists like to calculate the strategic value of the informal sector, I would like to know for example: how much value do prostitutes and brothels add to the Nigerian economy? Or perhaps, peppersoup joints? Needless traffic logjams? We have been told by at least two persons from the Tinubu camp: Mr Bayo Onanuga and Senator Dayo Adeyeye that we should all be patient and calm down. Sirs, Nigerians are the calmest and the most patient people in the world. We just want good governance, results and leadership. Is that too much to ask for?

The Labour Party’s (LP) Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of cloning electoral fraudsters as leaders and wasting the country’s time and resources.

Obi and LP warned in their final address to the Presidential Election Petitions Court on July 23, 2023, that if the court does not whip INEC into line to perform its electoral duties fairly, impartially, and independently, elections in Nigeria will remain a fraud.

Obi and LP accused INEC of abandoning its primary statutory responsibility as an electoral umpire and proudly putting on the toga of a candidate in the election.

They claimed INEC spent 5.5 pages of its address, tragically and embarrassingly, defending the ground on the non-qualification of the second respondent (Tinubu).

They stated;

In the case of PDP v. Alechenu (2019) LPELR-49199 (CA), this honourable court admonished the 1st Respondent (INEC), who appears to have misunderstood its public duty, thus: Often one finds cases where INEC plays games with election materials and would not allow the petitioner(s) access to documents used in the conduct of the election, even with court order(s) to produce same, as in this case, thus playing the cards of the declared winner, openly, to frustrate the petition.

Obi also stated that INEC used modern technology to conduct the 2023 General Election in accordance with the mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act of 2022, the INEC Regulations and Guidelines, and the INEC Manual.

By this, INEC represented and assured that it would use Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the accreditation of voters in the polling units and the upload/transmission of the results of the election in real-time on the day of the election to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

However, contrary to the requirement of the law and in manifest disregard of its own representations, the 1st respondent (INEC) abandoned and discarded the much expected upload/transmission of the result of the election in real time on the day of the election from the polling unit to the IReV.

Rather, and very strangely, blurred, unreadable and inaccessible documents/images were uploaded by the 1st respondent to the IReV purporting same to be the result of the election in various polling units. These blurred images and inaccessible documents were purported to be the result of the election in the polling units. The net result of the upload of the blurred images on the IReV, was that the result of the election could neither be authenticated nor verified, and thus, lacked credibility and transparency.

The 1st respondent’s contention that the ‘collation of the election result’ remained a manual process is patently false and seems to have disregarded the express provisions of the Electoral Act, Regulations and Manual for the election. Collation of election results at all the stages of the election process specifically provide for electronic transmission to the IReV which is part of the collation system under the Electoral Act.

The authority of the Federal High Court determination in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1454/2022 relied upon by the 1st respondent in its final address and heavily harped upon in its argument is per incuriam and in manifest contradiction of the binding later decision of the Supreme Court in Appeal No: SC/CV/508/2023, OYETOLA v. INEC delivered on 9th May 2023, in (2023) LPELR-60392 (SC).

Despite the 1st respondent’s claim that the hardcopies of the forms EC8A were allegedly used for the manual collation of the election (which by that reasoning ought to be in the 1st respondent’s custody/possession), the 1 respondent nevertheless gave to the petitioners as certified copies of the electoral forms, including alleged forms EC8As, blurred/blank/extraneous copies.

The alleged hardcopies of the forms EC8A claimed to have been used for the manual collation were neither produced in court nor certified copies thereof tendered in court by the 1st respondent.

Arsonists set fire to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) campaign office in Lokoja, Kogi state’s capital.

Suspected thugs were said to have stormed the party office in the state capital’s Paparanda Square on IBB Driveway around midnight.

According to witnesses, the attackers chased away the campaign office’s security guards before setting fire to the party office.

Valuables and documents were among the items destroyed. Vehicles parked inside the campaign headquarters were also set on fire.

The SDP Deputy governorship candidate for the November 11gubernatorial election, Dr Sam Ranti Abenemi,

said: “The hoodlums came in large numbers and set all the properties in the office on fire, including generators, computers, campaign materials, and televisions”.

However, he called on the party’s supporters to remain calm, stressing that the party would address the issue at the appropriate quarters.

Meanwhile, the Director, Communication of the SDP standard bearer, Faruk Adejoh-Audu, said;

We invite the world and all people of good conscience to come to the aid of Kogi State by rising to condemn these sustained brazen acts of abuse of power.

This trend has continued despite our repeated outcries and formal complaint to the security agencies against the known perpetrators of this acts of extreme electoral violence.

We have again formally incidented another complaint at the Kogi State Police Command for whatever it is worth but we have no confidence in the ability of security agencies in Lokoja to rein in this arsonists.

PPRO (Police Public Relations Officer) in Kogi, SP William Aya, who was contacted about the incident, promised to contact our reporter but had not done so as of the time this story was filed.

Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, the SDP’s standard bearer, was reportedly stopped in Lokoja on his way from Idah to Abuja on Sunday to inspect the burnt office, which was vandalized on June 9, 2023.

One Waliu Olamilekan, a fuel attendant, has been arrested and he is standing trial for theft and damage.

The 39-year-old was arraigned before a Badagry Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing N3,464,000 at BFO filling station in Badagry.

The defendant, whose residential address was not divulged, is standing trial on a three-count charge of unlawful entry, malicious damage and stealing, for which he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, Inspector Ayodele Adeosun told the court that the defendant committed the offences on July 9, at about 11.30am at Pipeline, Araromi-Ale, Badagry Expressway, Lagos.

Adeosun said the defendant allegedly broke into the office of the manager of the station, Mrs Titilope Falola, the complainant and made away with the money.

“He damaged the burglary window valued at N45,000, the bulk room and the drawer of the Manager’s office.

“The defendant also stole the sum of N3, 464,000 million, property of BFO Filling Station.

“The Police recovered the stolen money from where he hid it.

“The offences contravene Sections 307, 339 and 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015,’’ he said.

The Magistrate, Mr T.A Popoola, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N1,000,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Popoola said one of the sureties should produce evidence of a statement of account worth N1m and three years of tax address verification.

She adjourned the case until August 21, for mention. (NAN)